Three Men And A Little Bacon, Baby!

Bacon, Bacon, Bacon! Bacon for breakfast, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich for lunch, bacon wrapped steak for dinner. It’s a food that translates to any meal of the day. Even vegetarians can enjoy bacon – check out this eggplant bacon.

These caramelized bacon bites were a hit at hubby’s First Friday guys night out event (all guys gave them a thumbs up), and at a recent neighborhood party, the bacon bites disappeared within minutes.

While testing out this recipe, I cooked the bacon a little less one time which left the bacon slightly chewy, and the next time I cooked it longer which left it very crisp. People’s preferences varied from liking the chewier to the crisp bites.

You may need to experiment with cooking times to get the right degree of doneness for your taste preference. My taste testing to determine the perfect crispness did deplete the volume of finished product, so you may want to make an extra piece of bacon just in case you need to do a lot of testing. 🙂

You are just a few steps away from what I call bacon candy, or for some, bacon crack.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil (for easy cleaning) and place a wire baking rack on top.

Combine the brown sugar and pecans in a food processor and process until the pecans are finely ground.

Add the salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and pulse to combine.

Pour in the maple syrup and pulse again to moisten the crumbs.

Cut each bacon slice in half crosswise and line up the pieces on the baking rack without touching. With a small spoon, evenly spread the pecan mixture on top of each piece of bacon, using all of the mixture.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the topping is very browned but not burnt. (If it’s underbaked, the bacon won’t crisp as it cools.)

While it’s hot, transfer the bacon to a plate lined with foil or parchment paper. (hot bacon tends to stick to paper towels) and set aside to cool.

FTC Disclaimer

Everything I use to make these recipes, I have bought with my own money. If ever I am sponsored, get paid for my blogs, or receive anything for free that is used for this blog, I will clearly state it.